Former Edmonton MLA, son plead guilty to immigration fraud

A former Edmonton MLA and hisson admit they committed immigration fraud.

On Wednesday morning in Court of King's Bench, Carl Benito and Charles Benito entered last-minute guilty pleas.

Their seven-week trial was supposed to begin on Monday. A jury was selected last week and all 14 chosen jurors reported to the courthouse on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

After the guilty pleas were entered, Justice Avril Inglis summoned the jurors to the courtroom only to tell them there would be no trial and they were all excused.

Carl and Charles Benito both admit that between July 2016 and July 2018, they illegally employed eight foreign nationals who were not authorized under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to work in Canada. At the time, they were operating three immigration consulting companies.

Carl Benito served as a Progressive Conservative MLA for Edmonton-Mill Woods from 2008 to 2012.

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According to an agreed statement of facts, the eight foreign nationalsnot only had expired work permits but fourhad also been issued exclusion orders to leave Canada.

The employees were paid well below minimum wage at $10 an hour and were paid in cash once or twice a week.

Carl Benito told the employees to say they were volunteering for him and he made some employees sign undated forms stating they would volunteer for no pay.

The group of eight were referred to by code names rather than their real names. In order to protect their privacy, CBC will refer to the employees identified in the court documents by their code names.

All the employees are from the Philippines and moved to Canada under the temporary foreign worker program.

Collecting big fees and paying low salaries

One of the employees, who used the code name Laiza,worked as the Calgary office manager. Her work permit expired on Feb. 27, 2016, and on March 2018 she was issued an exclusion order to leave Canada.

Carl Benito became Laiza's paid immigration consultant beginning in 2015 and charged her thousands of dollars over the years to file various applications aimed at allowing her to remain in Canada.

According to the agreed statement of facts, when Laiza told Benito in February 2017 that she couldn't afford to file another application, he offered her a job in his company at $10 an hour and even allowed her to live in his home for six months.

She agreed to move to Calgary to become his office manager for the same low rate of pay because "she was without status and needed the job," it says in the the agreed statement of facts. "She sends money home to her mother and sons."

AnotherBenito employee used the code name Jay Jay.His work permit expired in November 2014. InDecember 2016 he was ordered to leave Canada.

Jay Jay hired Carl Benito as his paid immigration consultant in 2015. Benito charged him $5,500 to file an application for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Jay Jay could only come up with $3,000 because he was living with friends at the time and had no money or job.

The application was refused.

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Jay Jay continued to work for Benito until June 2018 when the Canada Border Services Agency raided Benito's home and office.

'Show money'

Carl Benito also pleaded guilty to misrepresenting facts on immigration applications for study permits.

Under Immigration and Refugee Protection regulations, to obtain a study permit, a foreign national has to prove they have enough money to support themselves and any family members while they attend school.

Benito advised clients they needed to be able to show they had about $17,000 in their bank account.

"Many clients had been working in Canada to send money home to family in the Philippines and had very little to no savings in Canada," the court document states. "If clients told Carl Benito that they did not have $17,000, [he] advised that he could arrange for them to obtain a short-term $17,000 loan for a fee."

Benito and his employees referred to the $17,000 as "show money" and charged between $200 to $500 for the loan.

He would drive a client to the bank andtransfer the funds to the client's account. The client would get a printed bank statement showing the balance, then hours later, they'd go to another branch to reverse the transaction.

Carl Benito admits that he "counselled, induced and aided" some clients to apply for study permits when he knew they had no plan to go to school, according to the agreed statement of facts.He even obtained acceptance letters on their behalf from some schools knowing that the clients did not study.

Carl Benito and his son declined comment outside court.

They will be sentenced on Oct. 14.